A workshop in the series: Living in the Anthropocene – Rethinking the nature/culture divide (see previous post)

Complexity theory presents a fundamental challenge to the rationalist principles of liberal modern thought and governance. Whereas the latter is premised on the ability of subjects to predict and control the world around them, complexity theorists propose that such attempts will always be exceeded by the unpredictable and non-linear nature of life itself. Various complexity theorists suggest that governance can only work by abandoning the reductionist frameworks of liberal modernity and instead unleashing the potential of life to self-organise. The key to understanding how complex life can be governed is the concept of emergence. In between the entropy generated by chaos and the reductionist order of modernity, emergence postulates that order exists through a process of continuous adaptation modelled on evolution through the mechanism of natural selection. This means that order can be generated without an overarching designer or hierarchy, whether we are looking at a colony of ants or a human society.

Complexity and emergence are subject to wide consensus in regards to the natural world, but the entrance of emergence into the cultural realm should be subject to more examination. Questions can be asked about the rather deterministic overtones of the concept and its relation to human agency and intentionality. The workshop represents an opportunity to rethink emergence in the light of its implications for the nature/culture divide.

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Living in the Anthropocene

The arrival of the Anthropocene — human dominance of the biological, chemical and geological processes of Earth — is already an undeniable reality. We humans have become the dominant force for change on planet Earth.

To avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of this huge shift, we must transform the collective ways we perceive ourselves and our role within the Earth’s community of life. We must transform our shared human culture.

This blog explores the processes of cultural transformation that an epoch of global upheaval and radical uncertainty will demand.

B. Lorraine Smith • medium.com • April 30 Writer, researcher and consultant in New York exploring the interconnectedness of it all. More at http://www.blorrainesmith.com. I’m willing to bet that those in the “sustainability field” (for lack of a better label…) will not be the primary force that makes the change. But we will hopefully be … Continue reading Th […]

by Karoline Kvellestad Isaksen • cas.oslo.no We are Generation Anthropocene, Robert Macfarlane says, but argues that our need for change seems to greatly exceed our capacity to exert it. – Each second of this 100-second sound-piece corresponds to 1000 years of ice history data, writer and scholar Robert Macfarlane says. He has taken the audience … Continue r […]

by Erle C Ellis • extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com • 17 April 2017 Human societies have become a ‘great force of nature’. Among the many massive environmental changes we are causing are the widespread conversion of habitats to agricultural fields and settlements, species extinctions, global climate change, and the pollution of air, land and sea. So profou […]

By Karoline Kvellestad Isaksen • cas.oslo.no Through different stories about ways of living in the Arctic, Professor Marianne Lien and her research group at CAS (Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters) challenge what they see as the dominant understanding of relations among humans, animals, and landscapes. What is culture … […]

George Monbiot • theguardian.com • Thursday 13th April, 2017 So what are we going to do about it? This is the only question worth asking. But the answers appear elusive. Faced with a multifaceted crisis – the capture of governments by billionaires and their lobbyists, extreme inequality, the rise of demagogues, above all the … Continue reading Finally, a b […]